'Golden Age II' exhibit to open at Heritage Museum

Display focuses on Laurel Park history

Knox Crowell works on a historical display focusing on Laurel Park at the Henderson County Heritage Museum.

Mike Dirks / Times-News

By BETH BEASLEY De BONATimes-News Correspondent

Published: Sunday, July 13, 2014 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, July 9, 2014 at 6:08 p.m.

Take an imaginary journey on the Fifth Avenue Dummy Line to Laurel Park, cheer on heavyweight champ Jack Dempsey in the boxing ring, and dream about touring the grand Fleetwood Hotel, had it been completed at Jump Off Rock.

Photo Galleries

Using handmade scale models and pictorial displays to illustrate life in early 20th-century Laurel Park, the Henderson County Heritage Museum is presenting Golden Age II, a new exhibit opening Saturday.

“It was the coming of the train up the Saluda Grade that ushered in the era of prosperity in Henderson County that became known as the Golden Age,” says Carolyn Justus, chairwoman of the Heritage Museum board. “These (exhibits) have been so popular, we decided to leave them in place and expand upon the theme.”

The first Golden Age exhibit that opened in 2013 includes an extensive diorama of the Saluda Grade railway line created by the Apple Valley Model Railroad Club, an old general store and a display of the works of architects from early in the county's history.

To celebrate the opening of the Golden Age II exhibit, the musium is having to an ice cream social from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

Displays for Golden Age II are the product of selections of photos and vintage postcards from personal collections, photos from the Baker Barber Collection, and models created by Laurel Park resident Knox Crowell.

“If it weren't for people collecting these photos, this exhibit wouldn't have been possible,” Crowell says.

Crowell, a Laurel Park history buff, has family ties to the town — his grandfather Oscar Bernard Crowell Sr. (“Judge Crowell”) originally came to Hendersonville to help with legal work on the Fleetwood Hotel and stayed on after the development failed.

“Fleetwood would have really changed Hendersonville had it worked out,” Crowell says, citing possibilities of development similar to what has occurred in Asheville.

Crowell believes that Hendersonville might also have become a stop on the musical circuit created by Commodore J. Perry Stolz, the man behind the Fleetwood Hotel development in Miami, which had a radio station on its top level — also planned for the Laurel Park hotel.

The unfinished hulk of Stolz's 15-story hotel, started in 1925, sat on Echo Mountain until its demolition in 1939.

“We're showing it as it would have looked if it had been completed,” Crowell says.

The hotel model is tiny, about the size of a deck of cards, and is shown amid the larger landscape of Laurel Park's Echo Mountain.

Models of the Dummy Line train, which brought visitors and residents to Laurel Park's lakes and pavilions for swimming and dancing, will feature both the line's steam engine and the electric trolleys that were later introduced.

The displays are a cooperative effort between the museum and the Laurel Park Civic Association, museum director Brenda Bradshaw says.

“We're interested in partnerships with groups in the interest of promoting the history of the county,” Bradshaw says.

Another model is of one of the three sparring rings created to showcase Jack Dempsey, who was brought to Laurel Park in the 1920s to help promote development efforts.

The former Indian Cave Lodge is the setting for the boxing ring model, where Dempsey once trained for his heavyweight matches in a ring on the hotel's front lawn.

In the past, Crowell has created a model of the historic courthouse building as well as a riverboat for the Heritage Museum.

In another gallery, historic photographs of the Wheeler Hotel will be on exhibit.

The hotel, which once stood on the hilltop where Bruce Drysdale Elementary School is today, was owned and operated by the Wheeler family until 1913, and it burned in 1930.

Photos of the hotel are on loan from the great granddaughter of David Henry Wheeler, the hotel's developer.

The photos give insight into the way life was lived in the period of time from the turn of the century until the Great Depression, according to Bradshaw.

As with other Heritage Museum displays, audio-visual presentations will supplement Golden Age II, including a 1925 promotional newsreel focusing on Laurel Park.

Reproductions of a pamphlet on the history of the Fleetwood hotel, written by Jim Toms in 1963, will include an epilogue written recently by Toms and will be available for purchase in the museum gift shop.

A new Courthouse Room, housing Crowell's building model and photographic and artifact displays, is on the third floor.

The room, which has been stripped of its finished ceiling and walls to show the bones of the building's original construction, will be accessible only to guests accompanied by a docent, Bradshaw says.

A display of arrowheads from the collection of a Laurel Park resident that includes an axe head and hoe head will round out the exhibit of the area's history, stretching back before European influence.

Also concurrent to the Golden Age II exhibit is a new display cabinet created by the two local chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

<p>Take an imaginary journey on the Fifth Avenue Dummy Line to Laurel Park, cheer on heavyweight champ Jack Dempsey in the boxing ring, and dream about touring the grand Fleetwood Hotel, had it been completed at Jump Off Rock.</p><p>Using handmade scale models and pictorial displays to illustrate life in early 20th-century Laurel Park, the Henderson County Heritage Museum is presenting Golden Age II, a new exhibit opening Saturday.</p><p>“It was the coming of the train up the Saluda Grade that ushered in the era of prosperity in Henderson County that became known as the Golden Age,” says Carolyn Justus, chairwoman of the Heritage Museum board. “These (exhibits) have been so popular, we decided to leave them in place and expand upon the theme.”</p><p>The first Golden Age exhibit that opened in 2013 includes an extensive diorama of the Saluda Grade railway line created by the Apple Valley Model Railroad Club, an old general store and a display of the works of architects from early in the county's history.</p><p>To celebrate the opening of the Golden Age II exhibit, the musium is having to an ice cream social from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.</p><p>Displays for Golden Age II are the product of selections of photos and vintage postcards from personal collections, photos from the Baker Barber Collection, and models created by Laurel Park resident Knox Crowell.</p><p>“If it weren't for people collecting these photos, this exhibit wouldn't have been possible,” Crowell says.</p><p>Crowell, a Laurel Park history buff, has family ties to the town — his grandfather Oscar Bernard Crowell Sr. (“Judge Crowell”) originally came to Hendersonville to help with legal work on the Fleetwood Hotel and stayed on after the development failed.</p><p>“Fleetwood would have really changed Hendersonville had it worked out,” Crowell says, citing possibilities of development similar to what has occurred in Asheville.</p><p>Crowell believes that Hendersonville might also have become a stop on the musical circuit created by Commodore J. Perry Stolz, the man behind the Fleetwood Hotel development in Miami, which had a radio station on its top level — also planned for the Laurel Park hotel.</p><p>The unfinished hulk of Stolz's 15-story hotel, started in 1925, sat on Echo Mountain until its demolition in 1939.</p><p>“We're showing it as it would have looked if it had been completed,” Crowell says.</p><p>The hotel model is tiny, about the size of a deck of cards, and is shown amid the larger landscape of Laurel Park's Echo Mountain.</p><p>Models of the Dummy Line train, which brought visitors and residents to Laurel Park's lakes and pavilions for swimming and dancing, will feature both the line's steam engine and the electric trolleys that were later introduced.</p><p>The displays are a cooperative effort between the museum and the Laurel Park Civic Association, museum director Brenda Bradshaw says.</p><p>“We're interested in partnerships with groups in the interest of promoting the history of the county,” Bradshaw says.</p><p>Another model is of one of the three sparring rings created to showcase Jack Dempsey, who was brought to Laurel Park in the 1920s to help promote development efforts.</p><p>The former Indian Cave Lodge is the setting for the boxing ring model, where Dempsey once trained for his heavyweight matches in a ring on the hotel's front lawn.</p><p>In the past, Crowell has created a model of the historic courthouse building as well as a riverboat for the Heritage Museum.</p><p>In another gallery, historic photographs of the Wheeler Hotel will be on exhibit.</p><p>The hotel, which once stood on the hilltop where Bruce Drysdale Elementary School is today, was owned and operated by the Wheeler family until 1913, and it burned in 1930.</p><p>Photos of the hotel are on loan from the great granddaughter of David Henry Wheeler, the hotel's developer.</p><p>The photos give insight into the way life was lived in the period of time from the turn of the century until the Great Depression, according to Bradshaw.</p><p>As with other Heritage Museum displays, audio-visual presentations will supplement Golden Age II, including a 1925 promotional newsreel focusing on Laurel Park.</p><p>Reproductions of a pamphlet on the history of the Fleetwood hotel, written by Jim Toms in 1963, will include an epilogue written recently by Toms and will be available for purchase in the museum gift shop.</p><p>A new Courthouse Room, housing Crowell's building model and photographic and artifact displays, is on the third floor.</p><p>The room, which has been stripped of its finished ceiling and walls to show the bones of the building's original construction, will be accessible only to guests accompanied by a docent, Bradshaw says.</p><p>A display of arrowheads from the collection of a Laurel Park resident that includes an axe head and hoe head will round out the exhibit of the area's history, stretching back before European influence.</p><p>Also concurrent to the Golden Age II exhibit is a new display cabinet created by the two local chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution.</p>